Refrigerating apparatus.



vJ. E. STARR.

' REFBIGERATING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 30, 1906.

Patented Aug.23, 1910.

WITNEssEs:

J. E. STARR..

REFRIGERATING MPARATUS.V A PPLIoATIoN FILED JAN.s0,19oe.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

l e l wTNEssEs': y vENToR daag/MMM. i

Patented Aug. 2 3, 1910.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEioE.

JOHN E. STARE, or NEW YORK, N. Y.

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, JOHN E. STARR, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State -comprises means whereby a single such apparatus may maintain refrigeration at a plurality of different planes of temperature and pressure, simultaneously, and with high efficiency andl increased capacity as compared wit other absorption refrigerating apparatus of vcorresponding size, and whereby such apparatus may effect a relativelygreat difference between the, strengths of the strong liquor entering the still and that of the weak liquor leaving the still, and may raise the strength of the liquor, during absorption, to a relatively high degree, while maintaining a relatively low temperature in the expansion coils.

My' invention further comprises means whereby the capacity of existing absorption refrigerating machlnes may be increased greatly, with increase of economy of operation, at slight expense.

The objects of my invention are, first, to increase the efficiency of absorption refrigerating apparatus; second, to permit a sin le such apparatus to perform refrigeration e y ciently at aplurality of diHerent planes of temperature and pressure, simultaneously; third, to avoid limitation of thestrength of the solution in the absorber tothe strength corresponding to the pressure at which refrigeration on the lowest plane is conducted, and to permit the production of a solution having a strength correspond-ing, to the pressure at which refrigeration on the highest plane is conducted fourth, to increase the.

capacity of existing refrigeratingapparatus, at slight expense; fifth, to economize the consumption of cooling lwater; and generally, to -make the apparatus more efficient, and more elastic in its adaptability to existinl;- conditions than former similar appara.- tus. and as simple as possible.

ln nearly -all casos wlu e refrigeration is Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Aug, 23, 1910,

Application tiled January 30, 1906. Serial No. 298,575.

required, the heat may be taken up on two with material' gain in efficiency lof the apparat-us, and with other advantages as well. Thus, to cite vtwo only of many well known examples: In the making of ice, while the freezing is usually done with a refrigerating fluid at a temperature o-f about zero Fahrenheit, corresponding to an ammonia pressure of 15 lbs. above the atmosphere, the water must first be cooled from a relatively high tem erature (say to 90 degrees F.), to 32 egrees, before it begins to freeze, and this preliminary cooling maybe performed vmosth economically by a refrigerating fluid having a temperature more nearly approximating the freezing point than that which effects the freezing-say a fluid having a temperature of 25 degrees, which temperature is produced by ammonia boiling at 38 lbs. pressure. Also, in cold storage warehouses it is common to keep certain rooms at about 32 degrees F., while other rooms are ke t atzero.

ow with refrigerating machines as ordinarily constructed, either all of the heat must be taken up at vthe lowest plane of temperature and pressure, which 1n the case of absorption refrigerating machines -Ineans the maintenance of relatively low pressure in the absorber and the production of a relatively Weak solution thereby, or two machines operating at different .planes of temperature and ressure must be used.

The strengt of the ammonia solution produced in the absorber depends upon the pres- `or more different planes of temperature, I

tween the strength of the weak liquor as it l leaves thestill and that of the strong liquor as it enters the still. Evidently, therefore,

it is desirable to maintain a relatively high pressure in the absorber; but this has not been practicable heretofore when low temeratures were required.A This difficulty has een overcome, by my invention, by maintaining different pressures in different portions ofthe absorber,' which latter may be divided into a plurality of chambers, the gas fromv each expansion or rcfligerating coil bcing admitted into that chamber or portion of 35 'y sorber divided into a corresponding number of sections, the apparatus being' arranged'to tion or portions of the absorber in which the pressure is relatively low to the portions in which the vpressure is high In this way'I admitting am able, in one refrigeratting apparatus, `to maintain different planes of temperature and .pressure and at the same time to profy duce Vin the absorber', a much strongerv am.

monia solution than itis practicable to producel in ordinary absorption apparatus which the pressureis limited to t 155 y at of the lowest plane of temperature..

One feature of my invention, therefore?. consists in maintainin in different portions o the absorber, andin thereturn gas from each'refriger# ating'coi I will nowproceed tion withl reference to the accompanying drawings, in which certain forms of absorption refrigerating apparatus embodying my invention are illustrated diagrammatical y, and will then-point out the novelfeatures in claii'ns.

In the said drawings, Figure 1 shows diagrammatically and 1n section la complete absorption refrigeratin'g plant comprising two refrigeratinglines or coils and-an abmaintain di'erent planes of temperature and pressure. in the two coils. Fig. 2 shows diagrammatically an alternative form of absorber which may be employed, com risin a single vessel in diiierent portions ofpwl'iic there are different pressures, owing to difference of elevation and consequent hydrostatic head. Fig. 3 shows diagrammatically a further alternative form of absorber comprising a lurality of ychambers -in which iderent pressures owin respect to'each ot er. Y

Referrin first to.Fig..1, numeral 1 desig i nates a stil which a gaseous refrigerating apparatus.

aglent-,such as ammonia, is distilled from al so ution thereof, such as aqua ammonia,by -heat' suplplied. by suitable means,l as for example t e steam pipe 2. In the precedin4 urposeo the refrigerating agent employed, and for the same'purpose I sha refrigeratingagent yto, beemployed in b my different pressures to that portion of the absorber the, pressure in which approximates the ressure; desiredvto be maintained in said coi Other features ofiny] vinvention will be' pointed out hereafter.' l to describe my inven 11 and- 12 desi to 'dif- 1 'continue-herein. torefer to ammonia as the-refrigerating agent fused; but 'it will be understoodthat Ido' nottheref' 'f-=by;limit`myself tothe use of ammonia as the .I 3 designatesa column or analyzer in which' i the vuprising ammonia gas from the still encountersa downiowingI stream of strong aqua ammonia, and imparts heat thereto and is in turn deprived of a portion of. the-.-

aqueous vapor carried by it;

4 designates a condensing or cooling I,

through which the ammonia gas passes as it leavesthe analyzer 3 said coil located in a tank. which may contain water or otherl cooling liquid, whereby theaqueous lvapor res' maining in the. ammonia gas after it 4,leaves the-analyzer is condensed. 5- designates a trap by which the water so condensed is separated from the ammonia gas, and 6' a ipe by'which such water is returned tothe istilling apparatus. 7 designates another` condensing coil, arranged Ato be cooled`inf the instance shown,l by water sprayed from a' pipe 8, whereby the ammonia gas is condensed to liquid form; The liquid anhy` vol drous ammoniasov .condensed is collected in a reservoir, fromfwluch :it Iflows into the l y n supply line 10. .-/f/ 1 ate I:t refrigerating coils, lines for circuits; connected-to thesup'-` ply line through socalled.'- expansion?? valves 13 and 14 respectively, andl'andfi designatese arate return'lines-'forsaid frigerating ines. The refrigerators, coolL ing-chambers, icefmakingtanksjer the-'j' like which are cooled by refri (grating lines`-11"' butin wai be understood that such ines maybe used-forv 1 and 12 are not illustate any of the purposes f r whichfartiicial re fri erationvis customarily used.`1

he absorption' apparatus shown 1 comprises two absorption vessels, 17 and 18 connected as hereinafter s described and together constituting jinl eiect afsingley fabsorber in the two sections'fof Vwhich different' pressures-are maintained.; y, v 19 designates a heat exchanger in which vthe weak aqua ammonia, as it 1s drawn o vfrom the bottom of-the stilll, exchanges heat withA the strong'aqua ammoniay assing' from absorption vvessel 18 to the rdistilling l i apparatus. i The weak aqua ammonia is.de

liveredv from the exchanger: 19 'into the rst. 1115 absorption vessel, 17, wherein it absorbsy the ammonia gasfreturned from. thev tirst refrigerating line,` 11, by return line 15; and

being thereby made stronger, it risesand' i I 4 passes into a reservoir 20, fromwhichv ittis,` passed "bymeans 'of a pump 21-into thesec-j' ond absorptionlvessel, 1,8,Qencoun'tering .there j f the ammoni ing line 12. 1

means {o fga'pipa22, andfpump, to'thedisti the' exc anger 19,939' a readye);plainedr` y Heretofore-it has Abeen customary j in ab, i

sorption".refrigeratingapparatus. to admit solution. Hence, if all of the gas is returned at the plane of pressure set by the lowest temperature required to be produced, the liquor delivered from the absorber will be much weaker than if it had absorbed to the full the gas which it mighthave absorbed under a pressure corresponding to the highest temperature which the refrigerating apparatus is required to produce. .Conducting at the lowestplane refrigeration that might be conducted at -a plurality of planes'of v temperature and pressure is accompanied by the following losses, therefore: (a) the loss due to conducting refrigeration at a lower plane t-han necessary; (b) the loss due to the fact that the strength of the solution produced in the absorber' is only that which can be produced at the pressure corresponding to the lowest temperature to be maintained, so that the difference between the strength of the solution entering the still and vthat of the solution leavingl the still is relatively small, and the operation of the still is relatively uneconomlcal; (c) the loss due to the relatively great amountof cooling water required. might be mentioned.

In an absorption refrigerat-ing machine both the economy and the efficiency ofthe apparatus depends in a large degree on the lstrength of the solution presented to the still, z. e., the percentageof the amino-nia absorbed 1n and 1n solut1on 1n the water.

When the solution is stronger, the temperaf,

ture,nccessary to drive out of the solution a given quantity of ammonia is lower than when the solution is weaker; hence a given area of heating surface will transfer' more heat (the source beingthe same in both cases, say a steam pipe containing steam of the same pressure in both cases) to a strong.

solution than to aweak solution. on account of the greater heat head, or difference between the temperature of the steam'andl that required to evaporate ol" the desired quantity of ammonia Thus, 38% aqua am monia e., aqua ammonia containing 38% A ammonia) under 150 lbs. pressure boils at 214 greater the capacity of the still. Again, the v Still other losses andobjections amount of heat, measured in heat units, required to drive a unit weight of ammonia out of the strong solution is less than that required to drive it out of the weak solution, and hence the economy of the apparatus is higherl when using a strong solution.

It is also a fact that the range of strength of the solution in the apparatus, viz., the difference between the strength of the solution entering the still and that of the weak solution leaving'the still has a great deal to do with the economy of the apparatus, and also with the first cost thereof. If the range be small, (for example, from 38%' down to 25% only) the total amount of aqua ammonia to be heated to its boiling point is much greater than ,if the range be great (for example, from 38% down to 18%). The strong aqua ammonia after leaving the absorber has to be heated up to `its boiling point in the still, and the weak aqua ammonia leaving the still has toghe cooled down to vthe temperature corresponding to its boiling point at the pressure at which it enters the absorber; a loss of heat being therefore inevitable This loss is reduced by the exchanger but if the range of strength of solution is small,vand the total l liquid is greater.

It Will be instructive'as to the merits of my invention, to assume actual figures for `.the pressures 4in the chambers of the absorberI and the strengths of the solution.

Assuming that the pressure in chamber 17 Y is that of the atmosphere, corresponding to -a temperature of -29.G degrees F. 1n coil 11, and assuming that the weak solution enters this chamber 17 at 18% strength and- 126 F. temperature, its strength may be raised therein to 25%, provided its temperature is reduced to 101 F. Now, if as in former practice, the gas from all of the eX- pansion coils were returned to the absorber at the pressure determined bythe coil which produced the lowest temperature, 25% would be the greatest strength of solution which could be produced at the pressure assumed without excessive lowering of the temperature of the solution, requiring an excessive amount of. cooling water. In'the still, -the range of. temperature of boiling point ofl thesolution wouldbe from 250 F. to 274 F. (assuminga pressure therein of 140 lbs), giving a mean temperature of' 262 F.: and'guring heatI head from vsteam at 280 F., such head is only. 18 degrees. By

the use of the second absorption chamber,

18, however, thestrengt-h of thesolution may be raised to 38%, the pressure therein being 35-lbs., correspondingto a temperature of plus 22 degrees F. in coil'12, and

A necessary temperatures, and by passing the cooliiig water may be obtained,wi

.quent reduction inv the amount'ol cooling'.

the temperature maintained in chamber 18 tion, in this case, is from 214 F. to 274 F., at lthai-still pressure previously assumed, 'v5

solution the heating surfaces' have twice the -of heat in Athe exchanger, of about 23%.

plained) and much more power is required and the capacity of the machine is: much higher.' It will also be noted that since the .the two `chambers 17 -and- I8 I have not-attempted inthe se" arate chambers,fas in Fig. 1,'.hoiisi'afver.

partsjo uit, owing' tofdiiferenceof hydrostati'chead,l 23 l l=, signates avertical abs'orpfj. v'tio'ny chamber 'suiiicie'iit height tol give,"

being not in excess of 132 degrees F. The range of boilingtemperature -of the soluing' a mean temperature of 244 F. an a heat' head of 36 degrees. Since the elli` ciency of heating surface. is nearly proportionaly to the difference i n tem erature, or

heat head it follows that by using the 38% capacity as when using the 25% solution, which would give a saving in the amount of steam used, assuming a perfect exchange But as for the weaker solution a much larger .exchanger would be required than for the stronger solution (as already ex-v or the umping of the greater quantity of the wea er solution, the real gain is even greater than this.- It will be seen, therefore, that Aby so arranging the absorber that the' ammonia may be returned from the expanfv sion coils thereto at such pressures as are actually required for the production of the strong liquor from that portion of the absorber in which the ressure is' lowest.to that portion` of the a sorber in which the pressure is higher, a much stronger solution ma be obtained, and im ortant economies rea ized both as to the` e ciency of the in achne,-itsfirst cost, and cost of operation,

temperature in the second .absorptionA chamber may bevhigher than thatV n5' the` first, owing tothe higher pressureigtherein,`r the coolin water may be ,passedtfionifthe cooling coils of the first chamber-into those ofthe second chamber, and 'Iii i-'' t hisf"1j\iay"aJ greatly increased range o ftcprature of,

water requiredefa consideration fiflien of;- very eat importance illustrated in Fig. 1, the copling' illustratef details. of construction 'of jtlieiv ap wmary 1 rf The two v bsorpt'io'n chambers 17. and 18l of; Fig. -1 .constitute in effect 'af sin 'le'.-ab sorber;` It 'is not necessary that t e absorber shall bedivided -into a plurali ty' ofv ig.-2 fillustra tes analternativearran ment, in rvvliichfasingle chamber .h as (-j' ferent"v ressur'es l maintainedf'ki different maintained in the return tion o served. v

near its bottom, the maximum pressure re'' quired, by hydrostatic pressure. 15, 16, 24, 25 and 26 designate return lines from differentexpansion coils or iefrigeratingv lines, not shown, each return line connected to the vessel 23 at the height which corresponds to the sel' 23 being assumed to ,be practically constant.

-'to be served, ,an arrangement such as that shown in Fig. 3 may b'e employed, in which pressure to4 be maintained in such vreturn line-the height ofthe liquid in ves- I The weak liquor enters said vessel. at the top, through pipe 27; and the strongv two absorption vessels, 28 and 29, are ar- I ranged at different heights correspondingv to the difference in pressure, to be maintained, .the aqua ammonia flowing from the topof the upper vessel,-througli a pipe 30,

into t-he vessel 29.' A Valve 31 ma be provided in this pipe, to regulate the ow. Obviously there may be a number of these absorption vessels, connected in series as shown, 'and arranged at different heights corresponding tothe different pressures t0 be maintained in them. The arrangements shown in Figs. 2 and 3 obviate the necessity of pumping the solution from `one vessel to thejother, as in the v'arrangement shown in Fig., 1.-

ifi-It will be obvious that. myinvention readily applied to existing refrigerating plants. In cases where a plurality of'ex'- parisien coils, required.A tomaintain different temperatures,` --are now connected tothe same absorber, l mayadd a second absorp-A V.tion vessel," ior several absorption vessels, ac-4 ,coi-ding to'circumstancesyor connect several 'expansion'.'coilszto different prtions'of the Same vessel, accordin to the arrangement eratigatfielie planeoff temperature 'I ma l? by Saniiariyarranging :the 1.bse1fben thereof' -in accordance with iny. inventioii-, adaptthe same plant 1 for `-'doing additional 'refrigeral tion on another plane without change iiithe other partsof-the plant other than the' addi what i claim" .isz-

1.` 'Inrefrigeratingapparatus, the combi`r lnation with an v absorber .v comprisin aplu'- rality of absorption vessels in which difliownv in Figi-'2, anl thereby, greatly irlcrease the capacity of thel plant, l while caiisin'g it to operatesinor'e eiciently; orfwhere` "alii:v existing' refrigerating plant now opj iio iis

ferent pressures are inaintainedtand means for conductlng ,the absorbing liquor from one to the other comprising a conduit connecting the 'portion ofthe 10W-pressure vessel which' contains the strong 1i uor .with

the portion of the high-pressure ve sel which' 'eontains, the weak liquor. of such vessel, of

:lurality of refrigerating linesin Which erent pressures are to be maintained., conneged each with one of said Vessels.

2. 1n refrlgerating apparatus, the combination with an yabsorber comprising-a. plu-V rality of absorption vesselsl in whichdifvferent pressures are maintained. and .means for conducting the absorbing quonfrom one, to the other comprising a pump and a storage reservoir' between the suction side of saidv pumpA and the first-of said vesse1s,..

of a plural'ty'ofrefrigeratinglines in which dierent pressuresjare tobe'maintained, com" nected lto di'erent absorption vessels..

3. In Arefrgerating apparatus, the; combination 'of a ,pluralit of refrigeratinglines and a plurality o absorption Vessels 1n which different. pressures are maintained,

and.means lfor conducting the liquor from Aone vessel to the other` in the direction of 'increase of pressure, saidfi'essel's.' 'with conduits "for the owing Ao cooling rovided fluid, connected together 'andxlkewise arranged to .circulate .suoli fiu'lfl 1n the direction 'of increaseofpressure 1n said vessels.

l In testimony Wher'eoffI-hereunto aixmy 

